Georg Philipp Telemann

Miriways

Introduction at 7.20 pm

This opera, first performed at Hamburg’s Opera on Gänsemarkt in 1726, has a model in actual history: Mir Wais was an Afghan ruler who conquered Persia in the early 18th century. In the opera, Miriways wants to secure the power of his dynasty through a political marriage between his daughter and Sophi, son of the dethroned Shah. Sophi, however, declines, for he loves Bemira. It now transpires that Miriways’ daughter is the very woman whom Sophi does not wish to give up in exchange for power. The beautiful irony of the matter is that Miriways himself had been forced into an arranged marriage by his father, subsequently fathering a daughter with his mistress.